FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming system in which a server, an external apparatus, and an image forming apparatus are connected via a network, an image forming apparatus, and a method of controlling the same.
In a conventional image forming apparatus such as a printer, various setup data for printing are described in a print job or previously set in the printer by using an operation unit or the like of the printer. Examples of the various setup data are as follows.
1) Print Modes
Color printing or black-and-white printing, double-sided printing or single-sided printing, a paper feed stage including manual feed or a paper size, and the number of copies are designated. These data are usually designated in a print job. If no data is designated, default data held by the printer is used.
2) Supplementary Image Data
Supplementary image data are default font data, form overlay image data, and the like. As these supplementary image data, default data originally held by the printer or data previously set in the printer by using utilities or the like is commonly used. In a print job, designation of only font data or form overlay image data to be used is described.
3) Other Setup Data
Other setup data include designation of printing of a cover page, designation of control if there is no optimum sheet, and paper feed timeout during manual paper feed. These data are usually set in the printer by using an operation unit or the like of the printer.
The above image forming apparatus has the following problems.
First, the following problems arise when various setup data are described in a print job.
1) If the number of setup items increases or the setup contents contain supplementary image data, the size of print job increases. Accordingly, the time during which a computer, on the transmitting side, is kept busy prolongs during print job transmission. Additionally, the printer must have similar various setup data for each print job. Also, when a plurality of print jobs are to be spooled by a spooler, a large spooling area is necessary if the size of each print job increases.
2) When an old print job is again printed, old data in the print job are used. For example, if a position name is contained as a part of a user name, an old position name in an old print job is printed on a cover page or the like. This sometimes makes it difficult to identify the user of the print job.
3) Each computer on the transmitting side must have utilities for various setup data. Also, a computer which uses a plurality of different types of image forming apparatuses must have utilities for various setup data for each individual type.
4) To hold previous setup data, each computer on the transmitting side must have various setup data. Also, a computer which uses a plurality of different types of image forming apparatuses must have various setup data for each individual type.
5) Setup data which can be changed only by a manager cannot be designated in a print job by each user.
Second, the following problems arise when various data are previously set in the printer by using the operation unit or the like of the printer.
6) Since various setup data are common to all users, the taste of each user cannot be reflected. Also, management data which can be changed only by a manager cannot be set in accordance with the taste of each individual user.
7) When a single user uses a plurality of printers, the same data must be set to these printers. If the setup data is different, the printers behave differently. Consequently, results are sometimes different from the intention of the user.
8) When a plurality of printers are used, each printer must hold setup data. For example, if a specific user uses a certain font, the font data must be installed in all printers to be used.
9) To keep various setup data even after the power supply of each apparatus is turned off, the data must be stored in each apparatus by using a relatively expensive nonvolatile storage means. To reduce cost, it is difficult to set a large amount of data and store complicated image data and the like.
10) Various setup data must be reset when an apparatus is replaced.